


Constants

by akire_yta



Series: prompt ficlets [345]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 10:34:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8529724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: anon requested: Alan and Virgil, Alan falling or getting trapped or something and Virgil saving him or something similar?





	

 

The first time Virgil saves Alan, Alan is five and he’s been climbing over the furniture again.

Everyone had told him not to, but everyone was distracted and he was bored.  

The carpet was lava, the sofas and tables of the living room rocks that he needed to cling to for safety to get to the other side.

But instead of sticking the landing, his socked feet slipped, and Alan tumbled down in the space between the back of the sofa and the large bookshelf.  It’s only a short fall, but Alan landed hard, the wind knocked out his lungs.

He laid there, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling until Virgil leaned over into his view.  “You okay there, Allie?”

Alan didn’t move.  “I am dead.  The lava got me.”

Virgil didn’t seem surprised.  “You went into the lava field with your special suit on, right?”  He pointed to his own feet, in mismatched socks.  There was a hole on one of the toes.  “Well, I’ve got my special lava boots on, and I’m coming to rescue you.”  He grabbed Alan’s arms, and dragged Alan, squealing happily, across the rug and up onto the other sofa to safety.

Alan curled up against the cushions, giggling.  “Your lava boots have a hole,” he pointed out.

Virgil wiggled his toes.  “So they do.  But that wouldn’t stop me from saving you.  From the _lava_.”  He pounced, and Alan melted with laughter as Virgil tickled him into submission.

 * 

Alan was caught in the crevasse, his leg pinned, the rock having sliced through his suit like paper to carve a deep gash into his calf muscle.

It was taking all his willpower not to just scream incoherently into his helmet.  In a rescue, you needed to prioritize, and Alan wasn’t the most in danger, for all that it _hurt_.

He tilted his head back at the sense of a shadow flickering over him.  He could hear the distant roar of VTOLs, a sound as familiar to him now as his own breathing.  

A climbing line slapped against the rock next to him, and Alan instinctively reached for it.  The movement jolted where the rock was digging into open flesh, and he whimpered as he stilled.

The whir of the belay was loud, even over the sound of his own heavy breathing.  Virgil’s boots came into view first, then the rest of him as he slid to a stop next to where Alan was pinned.  

Virgil’s own suit was dusty, torn and stained, tools hanging heavy from his belt.  There was a hairline crack along the edge of the faceplate of his helmet, and Alan could see the start of a bruise, high on Virgil’s cheek.  But his voice was steady.  “You okay there, Allie?”

Alan almost sobbed with relief, forcing himself to get it under control.  “I could use a hand,” he admitted, taking the safety line Virgil passed him.  His hands shook as he clipped it onto his own harness, hoping it was still strong enough to take his weight after all it had been through.

Alan couldn’t stop the short scream of pain as Virgil cut him free, the whimper as an emergency pressure bandage was slapped over the wound.  “I think you need to ask Brains for a stronger suit,” Virgil said.

Alan had the training, knew that Virgil was just trying to keep him awake and present in the moment.  But the pain was flooding up his leg now, and it was all Alan could do to make a weak noise of agreement.

“Come on Allie, stay with me,” Virgil murmured as he hauled Alan over to sprawl against his chest, ready to carry him out.  Alan managed to tangle his fingers under Virgil’s sash, finding any hand hold he could.  “You’re okay,” Virgil murmured, their helmets clicking together.  “I’ve got you.”

Alan didn’t remember most of the climb out of the crevasse.  He kept fading in and out of consciousness so that the passage of rocks as they rose up were like a kaleidoscope of disjointed moments.

He came to again in a flash of pain as Virgil laid him out on the medbay pallet.  “We’re in Two?” Alan asked, words slurring and tripping off his lips.

“Yep,” Virgil agreed, hands busy as he lowered the restraints, set up the scanners, started treatment.

Alan’s brain was muddled with the pain, the loss of blood, shock.  “The others, you should be saving…”

 Virgil froze, staring down at him.  “I’m saving you,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Alan nodded and let himself drift as the drugs took hold.


End file.
